Vehicles typically include a suspension system that responds to bumps, holes and other imperfections in the roadway so as to prevent such disturbances from being significantly transferred to the passenger compartment of the vehicle. Conventional vehicle suspension systems typically include a damping mechanism that provides a resistive force proportional to the relative translational velocity between the vehicle chassis and the wheels. Active suspension systems generally implement the damping mechanism via an actuator capable of providing energy to the suspension in response to a real time control system to generate resistive forces between the vehicle chassis and the wheels in an active manner. Accordingly, active suspension systems are energy consuming systems, which in an electric or hybrid electric vehicle become one more system that must be powered by the battery system of the vehicle.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an active suspension system for a vehicle that produces energy when road conditions permit. Also, it is desirable to provide an active suspension system for a electric vehicle that can be implemented in a compact size for application across a wide array of vehicle body types. Additionally, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.